Strong Storms Ripped through the Northeast, Knocking Out Power to Thousands

Strong to severe thunderstorms moved through portions of the Northeast Friday afternoon and evening. Most of these storms contained damaging winds across the interior Northeast, specifically in southeastern Michigan, northeastern Ohio, western and northern Pennsylvania, much of New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire, and the northwestern corner of Massachusetts. These locations are where the 148 wind reports occurred. Before this severe storm event began. we knew winds were going to be the main issue.Thankfully, hail and tornadoes were not an issue for most. There were only a few reports of hail and zero reports of a tornado, despite the prime atmosphere for tornadoes to occur.

Following the damaging lines of storms, tree damage was widespread. There were over 430,000 customers without power, as of 8AM Saturday morning. These numbers will decline this weekend as crews head out to restore power. The majority of outages were in Michigan and New York. At least one person was killed. A 36-year-old Waterford man was outside doing landscaping work when high winds knocked down a tree, causing part of it to fall on the man’s back.

There were several reports of wind gusts of over 60 mph in New York and Michigan, including a 68 mph gust in Bad Axe, Michigan. Winds gusted up to 58 mph in Detroit Friday afternoon. Those strong winds moved over Lake Erie, associated with the thunderstorms and the strong mid-latitude cyclone.

These storms made for an ominous look near Sheldon, Vermont. Check out the shelf cloud, which often contains the strongest of the winds within a thunderstorm before the heavy rain moves in shortly thereafter.

Jackson is Head of Content at WeatherOptics and produces several forecasts and manages all social media platforms. Previously, Jackson forecasted local weather for southwestern Connecticut, founding his website, Jackson's Weather, in the March of 2015. He is currently studying Meteorology and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Miami.